


Ask

by sanctuary_for_all



Series: In A Better World [1]
Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Angst, At least in my opinion, F/M, Feels, People Always Assume Feelings Are Unrequited, Sort Of, fill-in, the only acceptable explanation for the fact she hasn't even been mentioned yet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-14
Updated: 2017-08-14
Packaged: 2018-12-15 10:49:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 791
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11804496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sanctuary_for_all/pseuds/sanctuary_for_all
Summary: Gendry’s silence hid the fact that two little words burned like embers in the back of his throat. A simple question that mattered far, far more than it should.How’s Arya?(Spoilers for 7X05)





	Ask

**Author's Note:**

> If you'd asked me 24 hours ago, I would have said with absolute certainty that I would never, in a million years, write "Game of Thrones" fanfic. Even now, I'm not entirely sure how this happened.

He didn’t ask.

Wasn’t hard, really. By this point Gendry had gotten damn good at not saying things, enough that he barely noticed adding one more question to the pile. Not dying was enough to take up most of a man’s attention, whether it was the Lannisters, the White Walkers, or the weather that was thinking about doing the killing.

But the things that mattered still burned, no matter how deep you tried to bury them. And this time, his silence hid the fact that two little words burned like embers in the back of his throat. A simple question that mattered far, far more than it should.

_How’s Arya?_

Snow was King in the North, now, head of House Stark and one of its only surviving members. If Arya had ever made it… if she’d decided to go home, he’d know better than anyone how to answer Gendry’s question. Ser Davos might even know the answer, depending on how long he’d served the new king.

But even the bastard son of Robert Baratheon had no business being too interested in a king’s little sister. Even asking about Snow’s family would look too odd, stand too far apart from normal talk among the men. It was the kind of thing that drew attention, and attention was the last thing Gendry wanted. A small and simple a question as the one that burned inside Gendry still opened up a thousand others, and no matter how well their introduction had gone he was sure Snow wouldn’t like the answer to any of them.

And Davos… he’d catch on faster than the king would. The other man knew him too well – his voice would betray him, no matter how hard he tried to hide it.

And the big question they’d both ask, the one that would get Gendry into real trouble, wasn’t how he knew Arya’s name in the first place. If he was careful, he could even explain how he knew Arya was alive. The story of how their paths had crossed, if told briefly and in part, was innocent enough. He’d had enough practice lying it might even be believed.

No, the question that’d get him killed was a far simpler one – why, after all these years, he still _cared._

He’d told her, once, that they could never be family. That was still true, now, though the gap between them was no longer quite so immeasurable as it had once been. Unlike Snow, Gendry was an unacknowledged bastard son, and though he claimed the name as his own he had no larger legal right to any of it. The House was dead, even though he still drew breath.

But none of that changed the fact that Arya Stark was the closest thing to family he’d ever had. That was no less true now than it had been back when he’d made the damnfool mistake of leaving her, trusting the wrong people and nearly getting himself sacrificed to a witch because he’d been afraid of following her any further. Afraid that he’d keep doing it past the point of sense, past the point when she’d have other people to watch her back and realize she had no use for an armorer’s apprentice at her side. She’d been certain she needed him then, but she was a child in danger. Once she was safe, she would have outgrown it. He would have become just one of dozens of people who served her.

And he’d been most afraid of what would happen after. That he would become one of those idiots who blindly loved the lady they served, devoting their lives and hearts to someone who barely even knew they were alive.

That, he could never tell Snow.

It was better that way, really. Because as much as he wanted to hear about Arya striding through the gates of Winterfell, strong and sure and dragging a row of her enemies’ heads behind her, there was too much of a chance that she hadn’t made it home yet. Four years was a long time to stay alive on your own, and she hadn’t been nearly as good at staying out of trouble as she should have been.

Or… or maybe they found her. Maybe Snow would end up telling him how they’d had Arya carried home, body or bones, and buried her in the family crypt next to their father. That he never spoke of his sister because he mourned her still.

Gendry had borne a thousand things in his life. A world that no longer had Arya in it… that would be one thing too many.

So he stayed silent. But no matter how dark or cold it became, the question stayed burning inside him.

**Author's Note:**

> Come check out my [original fiction,](https://jennifferwardell.wixsite.com/mybooks) my [blog,](http://jennifferwardell.blogspot.com) or say hi to me on [Tumblr](http://sanctuaryforalluniverses.tumblr.com)!


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